On Thursday, May 28 at 9:30 a.m. ET, the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center, in partnership with Policy Center for the New South (PCNS), is convening a discussion on water security and sustainable development in Africa.
Water insecurity remains a critical challenge across the continent, where climate change, weak governance, and inadequate or aging water and sanitation infrastructure threaten sustainable water access. Meanwhile, water is also a factor in high-stakes geopolitical pressures ranging from Boko Haram’s influence in the Lake Chad Basin to disputes around the Inga dams in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
The African Union declared 2026 as the year of “Assuring Sustainable Water Availability and Safe Sanitation Systems to Achieve the Goals of Agenda 2063,” elevating these issues as continental political priorities. The conversation will explore opportunities to accelerate water infrastructure investment, improve public health outcomes, and foster climate-resilient economic growth across the continent.
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Speakers
Fadji Z. Maina, PhD
Research Scientist,
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center;
2025–2026 Millennium Fellow,
Millennium Leadership Program,
Atlantic Council
Jude Mutah, PhD
Director of Member Relations,
Corporate Council on Africa
John Sauer
Deputy Director, WASH,
Population Services International
More speakers to be announced.
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The Africa Center works to promote dynamic geopolitical partnerships with African states and to redirect US and European policy priorities toward strengthening security and bolstering economic growth and prosperity on the continent.
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